Why Are People Worried about Privacy Online?

At one time, people didn’t worry about their online privacy because of antivirus and anti-malware programs. They would see https:// in the address bar of a website that indicated the presence of an SSL certificate and felt safe. A lot of faith was put in these security measures.

The issue, however, is that hackers can always find a way. This has tech firms working to stay on top of the security demands of the people and businesses they serve. They have to do this due to the incredible increase in data breaches, that people have a right to be concerned about, since their personal information at risk.

Microsoft conducted a survey of internet users around the world to see how they viewed consumer technology and privacy. Nearly every respondent said that technology has a negative impact on data privacy. India was the only country that didn’t feel it had a major privacy issue.

Consumer Awareness of Data Sharing

Microsoft also wanted to get an idea of how knowledgeable people were about the personal information being shared. A majority of respondents said they were not fully aware of the types of information being collected and stored by tech companies. The only countries that felt they had an awareness were Indonesia and India.

Not being entirely aware of the information that is being shared is a major concern of people that shop online and share information. Many people simply aren’t aware of what is being collected, although they can look in the privacy policies of tech companies to find out. The problem is that the policies can be difficult to understand.

Apple made it simple when it created a post that briefly defined what information the company doesn’t gather from its users. Apple said that the tech giant doesn’t build profiles based on web browsing habits or email content so that the information can be sold to advertisers. The company doesn’t monetize the information that is stored on iCloud or the iPhone. Email is also not read and information gathering marketing messages aren’t sent.

In 2010, Mark Zuckerberg said that online privacy was no longer a social norm. This statement has been proven on Facebook because the famous social media platform gathers a great deal of information on user behavior. Users have also noticed remarketing efforts by websites they have visited because ads for those sites pop up on Facebook and throughout other ad networks.

Ways to Protect Privacy

Currently, it is impossible to completely protect certain types of consumer data when using the internet. The only true way to be protected is to not use the internet at all, but that isn’t practical in today’s world.

People work, shop, and communicate online. Browsing habits, personal information related to online purchases, and even financial data will be stored somewhere when those pieces of information are provided.

If a monetary transaction must be carried out online, using a prepaid card or a temporary digital credit card number can protect credit card and bank accounts. There are different measures that you can take, such as reading privacy policies before doing business with a website, that will help you protect yourself against harmful data breaches.

You can, however, do such things as use encryption that keeps the content of emails, your data and your communication private.

We at Secure Swiss Data, believe that privacy is not about having something to hide, it’s about the right to control what you want to share and what you want to keep to yourself. That is why we are pleased to introduce you to a service that is: